Out of the over 180 million Nigerians in the country, 146 million of
them are active subscribers and they spend about N212 billion on calls every
month, LEADERSHIP investigations have revealed.
The findings were arrived at using the current active mobile
subscriptions in the country and the subsisting Average Revenue Per User
(ARPU), the financial performance benchmark in the telecoms industry that
measures the average monthly revenue generated by operators from telecoms
subscribers, for Nigeria.
Going by the latest statistics released by the telecoms regulatory body,
the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), active telephone lines in the
nation’s telecommunication industry stood at 146, 561. 744 by May 2015.
According to data released by industry leading operators, ARPU in
Nigeria’s telecoms market is estimated at around $6 (N1, 452), given the
foreign exchange rate at N242.
LEADERSHIP investigation revealed that with an ARPU of N1,452 and a
subscriber base of 146 million, Nigeria’s telephone users now pay an estimated
N212 billion monthly in accessing telecom service, especially calls making.
Speaking to journalists on the growth witnessed in the sector, the NCC
revealed that the tele-density of the nation’s telecommunication industry
increased to 104.69 per cent in May, from 103.91 per cent in April, showing an
increase of 0.78 per cent.
Similarly, the commission revealed that no fewer than 88.13 million
Nigerians currently browse the Internet on telecom networks in the country. The
commission’s monthly Internet subscriber data for the month of May showed that
there was an increase of 1,131,775 (one million, one hundred and thirty-one
thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five) internet users on the GSM networks in
May. There was no data for the CDMA networks.
It was learnt that as telecom networks are recording upsurge in their
subscriber base. This also has positive implication on their bottom-line. For
instance, GSM operators increased their active customers by 1,329,607 as
against the 143,057,234 subscribers they recorded in April, with Globacom
beating the other three major telecom companies, MTN, Airtel and Etisalat, in
subscriber acquisition in the first five months of this year.
According to subscriber data information released by the regulatory
body, Glo activated a total of 2,263,346 new lines on its network ahead of
Airtel which came second with 1,983,195 new subscribers.
A recent report by NCC shows that Glo had 28,219,089 active lines at the
end of December 2014, but this increased to 30,482,435 at the end of May 2015,
showing an addition of 2,263,346 new customers. MTN had 1,970,176 new lines in
the first five months of 2015, while Etisalat recorded the least growth in
subscriber base with 1,493,515 new activations.
“Glo gained the highest number of internet users in April with over a
million new internet users on its network. The industry regulator said that
Globacom had 19,690,526 subscribers surfing the net with its network in April,
up from 18,617,607 users in March. In essence, the operator gained a total of
1,072,919 additional internet users on its network during the period covered by
the report. This increase translates to 67.58 per cent of total number of new
internet subscriber figure of 1,587,514 for the telecom networks for the month
of April,” the report said.
The NCC data also showed that MTN lost 384,487 internet subscribers in
April, after it recorded 39,520,285 users, down from 39,904,772 in March 2015.
Airtel Nigeria, it said, had 17.2 million internet users in April, as against
16,603,147 internet customers recorded in March. The data showed that internet
users on the Airtel Nigeria network increased by 669,518 in April. For
Etisalat, 10.4 million of its customers browsed the internet in April, against
the 10,189,568 users in March, showing an increase of 231,661 in the new month.
Experts React
Reacting to this development, experts lauded the achievement but
emphasised the need for improved quality of service by telecom operators.
Speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP, the president, Association of
Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr Lanre Ajayi, urged the
federal government and telecom operators to tackle the limitations that affect
telephony in the nation.
Mr ajayi said: “We have almost the number lines for the number of people
we have in Nigeria but that is not to say that everyone in Nigeria has a phone.
Some people have two, three phones while some people have none.
“It is possible to get everybody a phone but unfortunately there are
certain limitations why some people don’t have phones and those limitations
should be addressed. It is not an impossible task; currently we’re talking
about 100 per cent tele-density which means number of phones equal to number of
people, but it is possible some countries already have 200 per cent
tele-density, so it’s quite possible to give everybody a phone and connect the
whole nation.”
In his reaction, the chief executive officer of Niconnex Ltd., Mr Peter
Elofusim, said the emphasis should be on improving service delivery in rural
areas.
Elofusim said: “In my own opinion the emphasis should be on increasing
the data services and extending it beyond the urban centres to the hinterland,
the rural areas, so that broadband services can be better and available for
everyone.”
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